


After The Fall

by Carlos_Of_Night_Vale



Series: You Can't Help But Fall [2]
Category: The Lost Boys (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Laddie is a girl, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:22:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25298323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carlos_Of_Night_Vale/pseuds/Carlos_Of_Night_Vale
Summary: It's been 10 years since Laddie lost the boys. Things were normal. She had-for the most part- a normal life. But things are changing, and the boardwalk is becoming a dangerous place again. Drug dealers and local criminals have been going missing around the Santa Carla bay, and in a way that's all too familiar.
Relationships: Laddie Thompson & David & Dwayne & Paul & Marko, Laddie Thompson & Lucy, Laddie Thompson & Michael
Series: You Can't Help But Fall [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1207215
Comments: 5
Kudos: 38





	1. In All My Dreams I Drown

_"D''ya think she can hear us?"_

_"Not if you shut the fuck up, you idiot!"_

_"Both of you need to shut the fuck up before you wake her and this all goes to shit."_

_"Aw, c'mon David! Why can't we take her with us?"_

_"She deserves a normal life, Paul. We can at least give her that."_

_"She had a normal life with us."_

_"....really Marko?"_

_"Well, kind of."_

_"She's a seven year old who lived in a cave with four vampires. That is decidedly not normal, you goddamn moron."_

_"..fair enough, Dwayne."_

_"Either way, are we just gonna float here all night and watch her or actually do something?"_

_"We're here so I can fix their memories so we can disappear way easier, and it's easier to start with Laddie and Michael because I've been in their minds before."_

_"Cool, cool. That why you had to feed so much before?"_

_"Yeah. Healing Marko, holding the illusion for Paul and Dwayne, getting fucking stabbed, and suddenly becoming coven leader will do that."_

_"At least Max is dead."_

_"Yeah. Fuck him."_

_"Eloquent of you, Paul."_

_"Thank you Dwayne!"_

_"That's as good as it's gonna get from him."_

_"Fuck you, Marko."_

_"Guys. I need to concentrate on this, so if you'd like to shut the hell up for a second, that'd be great."_

_"Sorry, man."_

_"Yeah, do your thing David."_

_There was silence for a long time as David manipulated Laddie and Michael's memories to solidify the illusion he created to hide their faked deaths behind._

_"That should do it. We have to get the rest of the house and those Frog fuckers."_

_"Okay. Next window over, right David?"_

_"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's his shitty little brother's room."_

_"Then move it."_

_"Alright, alright! I'm moving! Jesus!"_

_Three of the voices faded slightly as they moved to the next window. Then Dwayne spoke._

_"This is for your own good, Laddie. We'll come back to you soon. We love you."_

Then Laddie woke up.


	2. Beautiful Stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laddie sees an all too familiar face while at work.

Laddie blinked herself awake slowly. She brought her hand up to her face to rub the sleep away from her blurry eyes, only to find that her eyes and cheeks were wet with tears. "Stop making me cry from beyond the grave, you assholes," she muttered to herself as she got up from her bed and headed to the bathroom. She splashed some cold water on her face to wake herself up and get rid of the evidence of her crying, then made her way to the kitchen to make breakfast. While she made her food, she thought about the dream she'd had. She figured it was just her brain's way of letting her say goodbye to the only family she'd ever known. But it had been happening more often now, way more than it ever had than when she was younger. Laddie sighed as she started the coffee, shaking off the lingering sadness that she felt whenever she thought about the boys and grabbing a plate out of the cupboard. She sat down and began eating, only getting up to grab herself a cup of coffee when it was done.

Eventually, Lucy made her way to the kitchen, smiling gently at Laddie and grabbing herself a cup of coffee as well. "Morning honey," Lucy greeted as she put her cup down and started to make herself some toast.

"Morning mom," Laddie replied.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Mhm."

"That's good. You work tonight, right?"

"Yeah. Rico has me on closing, so I won't be home until around 11ish."

"Okay sweetie. Anything fun planned before your shift?"

"Not really. I'm probably just going to hang out around the house, finish _Monte Cristo_ , work on my bike for a bit, stuff like that."

"Sounds good. Just be careful when you're working on the bikes."

"Okay mom."

Lucy and Laddie sat in a comfortable silence for the rest of their meal, then went their separate ways. Lucy to the living room and Laddie to her room to change into her work jumpsuit before heading out to the garage where Laddie's project bike was stored. Michael had bought the shell when she was 11 and had brought her parts from the shop he worked at when he visited, helping her build it up until it was mostly finished. It was almost in driving condition now, and Laddie worked on it most days of the week. It was nice to have a bike of her own, she thought as she wheeled it towards her designated work space, past the four other bikes covered in a tarp in the back of the garage. She thought about just using one of the boy's bikes, but it hadn't felt right. She spent several hours tinkering before wheeling it back to its designated place next to the boy's bikes and heading inside to eat lunch and shower. 

Lunch was similar to breakfast; Lucy asking how working on the bike and how Laddie was planning to spend the rest of the afternoon, Laddie replying that she'd just be around the house until she left for work. After lunch, Laddie jumped in the shower to get ready for work, spending the rest of the afternoon reading. At 4:15, she grabbed all her stuff and headed downstairs, yelling a quick goodbye to Lucy before walking to the boardwalk. Her walk was uneventful, as it always was, and she breezed into the staff room of Neptune's Palace at 4:55. She shoved her bag into her locker, shoving her wallet in her uniform's pocket before clocking in and emerging, walking toward the club rental station to greet her manager.

"Hey Rico," she said, flipping the counter up to join him.

"Hey Laddie. Excited for closing?" Rico responded, jokingly.

Laddie rolled her eyes, "Oh yeah, I'm absolutely thrilled."

Rico laughed, "Hey, at least it's not the midday rush, right? Nights are pretty slow. Not as many little kids and their shitty parents. Just shitty teenagers and shitty young adults. Kinda like you, huh?"

She snorted, "Gee thanks, Rico. That's so nice of you."

"No problem, kiddo. I'm gonna get a start on closing duties so we can get outta here as early as possible, so I'm abandoning you. Have fun, try not to die of boredom, and I'll send Casey to relieve you for your 30 minute break."

"Sounds good," Laddie replied, settling herself in as Rico slunk under the counter and disappeared into the staff room. 

Rico was right. It was _extremely_ slow. There weren't many people who stayed at the boardwalk until 10pm on a Tuesday. The three hours that Laddie sat behind the club rental stand was the longest three hours she'd ever spent on a shift. She practically melted with relief when she saw Casey heading towards her. "God, thank you," Laddie sighed.

Casey laughed, "Yeah yeah, go get your dinner, Lads."

"Oh, I will," Laddie replied as she flipped the counter up to switch places with Casey. "See you in 30 minutes."

"Get goin' Lads. You're burnin' time," Casey stated, taking his place behind the counter.

Laddie just waved him off as she ran back to the staff room to grab her book out of her backpack. She stopped to clock the start of her meal at customer service before ducking over to the burger and sandwich place next door before it closed. She got her food quickly, as the boardwalk was mostly empty anyway, and sat down on a bench to eat. No one bothered her, which was nice. About 8 minutes before she had to head back to work, she put her book down and got up to throw her trash away. As she did, she saw a flash of something out of the corner of her eye. She glanced over and did a double take. There was a shot man walking out of one of the tourist trap stores about four places down that was closing. The hair. That jacket. That was _Marco's_ jacket. But Marco was dead. That couldn't be possible. "Marco?" she whispered quietly.

The figure paused for a second before growling a quick, "Son of a bitch," and bolting off down toward the boardwalk. 

Laddie ran after him. It was easy to keep him in sight due to how empty the boardwalk was. She followed him towards the bridge at the far end near the children's area before he jumped the railing next to it. Laddie hit the edge with a gasp, yelling, "WAIT!" into the night. But he was already gone. She just stood there, panting as she looked out over the dark beach, her face falling until is set into a look of sadness and anger. "The jacket was probably a mistake," she spoke into the blackness, the waves answering back, "But next time, don't stop when I whisper your name, dipshit." Then she turned and walked back towards Neptune's Palace.

When he heard her walk away finally, Marco emerged from the space underneath the boardwalk. He looked up at the railing where Laddie had stood only a few minutes before, running his fingers through his mop of curly hair. "Well shit," he said, "David's gonna kill me."

David did not kill him. But he did get yelled at. Very loudly. For a very long time.

Paul thought it was hilarious.

Laddie was dropped off at home by Casey a little before 11. She immediately made her way to her room, changing into her pajamas. She opened her blinds and stared out at the ocean in the distance. When she had returned to her shift, she realized that her dream was probably not a dream at all. It was a waking memory, one that hadn't completely erased. Now all she had to do was wait. She'd gone this long thinking she'd never see them again, and she could wait for a little bit longer. She sighed heavily, closing her blinds and getting in to bed, falling into a dreamless sleep.


	3. Down in the Midnight Rectory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laddie's got a night off and a confrontation ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School + rona = I was unceremoniously beaten to DEATH last fall but you get a nice long update you're welcome girls gays and theys :)

Laddie didn't have a night off for several days after seeing Marko on the boardwalk. She thought for a while about how to do it, how to confront them, but she still came up empty. Not wanting to wing it either, she started writing down ideas of what to say during the day or her breaks during work. There was a lot of scribbled out phrases, ripped out pages, and ink blots. By the time her night off rolled around, she still had no idea what to say. So she took her notebook with her to the boardwalk and if she couldn't say any of the things she had managed to write down, she decided she would just throw it at someone. It would probably get her point across better, anyway. 

So on Sunday night, just as the sun was starting to set, Laddie made her way to the boardwalk on a mission to find the boys.

It was several hours later and she hadn't seen them at all. She had stopped by her job for a while. Nothing. She had walked up and down the boardwalk for hours. Still nothing. "Where are you, assholes?" she muttered, maneuvering around people and looking around her. Walking further towards the back end of the boardwalk towards the Giant Dipper, head still constantly moving around, she stopped. Was it? It had to be. No one in the late 90s still modeled their hair after goddamn Twisted Sister. Laddie grinned, opting to keep quiet and she stalked quickly towards her target, who - in true Paul fashion - was flirting with the girl who ran one of the game booths at by the ride exit. Dodging behind people to avoid being seen, Laddie slipped around the throngs of people until she was safely out of site behind him. She got just close enough to be able to hear the end of a ridiculous pick up line that made her roll her eyes and cleared her throat as if to indicate that he was blocking the way to the game.

He turned, saying, "Oh shit, my ba-," and froze when he saw her, hands in her pockets and holding back all the emotions that she hadn't realized she was feeling.

"Hey Paul," she choked out, voice thick and eyes stinging.

Paul didn't say a single word before he pushed off the booth and pulled her in for a hug, saying, "Hey kid." That broke her, and she started sobbing into his chest. "Hey, hey, what's with the waterworks, kid? You miss me that much?" he teased gently, huffing out a laugh when she nodded against his chest. "Alright, let's go. People are starting to look at me funny," he gently pulled back from her, smiling at her as she sniffled and used her chunky sweater's sleeve to wipe her eyes as she nodded. He threw his arm around her shoulder and started walking down towards the children's area of the boardwalk.

"The one place I didn't check," Laddie groaned.

Paul laughed, "Yup! Marko got his ass chewed out by David on Tuesday. It was hilarious!"

Laddie looked up at him, "Am I gonna get you in trouble?"

"Nah," he said, "Cat's out of the bag now anyway. David figured you'd start lookin' for us after that, so we decided to just stop hiding."

"Fair enough," Laddie mumbled, pressing closer to Paul's side as them moved around a family ushering a large group of children. Paul ushered her to a table where Marko sat people watching.

"Hey man, look who snuck up on me!" Paul announced loudly as they approached, pushing Laddie in front of him.

Laddie smiled at Marko, "Hi."

Marko looked at her and grinned, his hand shooting up to cover his mouth, "Hey Laddie. Nice job bustin' me on Tuesday."

She smiled sheepishly, "Sorry. But you did freeze when I said your name."

Marko tilted his head back and laughed, "Yeah," he said, "I did, huh?" He stood up and pulled Laddie into a hug, "We missed you, kid."

"I missed you too," she said, her voice muffled.

Marko looked over her head at Paul, an eyebrow raised. ' _D'you think we should take her to the_ _cave? '_

Paul shrugged, ' _Why not? Besides, you really think she's gonna leave until she sees Dwayne and David?'_

 _'Fair enough,'_ Marco responded. He pulled away from Laddie smiling, "You wanna go see-?"

He didn't even get to finish before Laddie practically yelled out, "Yes!"

The two boys laughed at her as she blushed. "That's what I thought!" Paul exclaimed, moving in to ruffle her hair. "Let's go, kid."

The trio started walking back up towards the main boardwalk as Laddie spoke, "I'm not a kid, you know. I turn 18 soon."

Marko paused, "Wait, seriously? It's been that long?"

"Yeah," Laddie responded. "Did you not realize?"

Paul shook is head, "Nope. Time was...weird, for a while. After."

She looked down at her shoes, "Makes sense," she mumbled, going quiet.

Marko and Paul shared a look over her head. "Hey, we're fine, Laddie," Marko stated, nudging her with his elbow.

"Yeah. But shit was weird! You even gone into hibernation? Waking up is fuckin' crazy, dude," Paul said in mock seriousness.

Laddie looked up at him, brow furrowed. "So if you went into hibernation, how'd you manage to get stupider?"

Marko snorted as Laddie grinned up at a smirking Paul. "Good one," Paul laughed.

"I know," she responded. "So, what are you guys riding these days?"

"We stole a few dirt bikes a few years back. Been using those until we can get our hands on some real muscle," Paul said.

"You don't have to wait, actually," Laddie responded casually. "Michael convinced mom to let him keep your guy's bikes. He left them with us when he moved to Portland, so they're in the shed back at the house."

"Michael kept the bikes?" Marko asked. 

Laddie nodded. "He felt really guilty, you know. Especially after Star up and left. He's actually really cool. I spend a few weeks of summer with him sometimes."

"Huh. That's...not what I expected," Paul stated, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah. That's what I thought, too. Sam's still insane though. He moved out and in with the Frog brothers as soon as he graduated. He doesn't visit much, but he's a dick about it when he does so I don't mind. Makes mom sad, though," Laddie shrugged.

"...mom?" Marko asked.

"Lucy Emerson. She kind of adopted me after..everything. Made sure I was okay, went to school, all that kind of stuff."

Paul wrapped his arm over her shoulder and pulled her into his side, "She sounds pretty cool."

"Yeah," Laddie sighed, "she is."

Marko smiled at her, "I'm glad you had someone good looking after you."

Laddie returned his smile as the three continued to walk towards the end of the boardwalk where the two boy's dirt bikes were waiting. "Who you ridin' with, chica?" Paul asked, gesturing to the bikes with all the flair of the girl on Wheel of Fortune who presents the prizes behind the curtain. 

She looked at him, eyebrow raised. "You still drive like a psycho?"

Marko doubled over in laughter at the offended look on Paul's face, able to stop just enough to wheeze out, "Oh man! He totally does!"

"Well, I guess I'm riding with Marko," she stated crossing her arms as Marko continued to wheeze with laughter at Paul's entirely overexaggerated sadness. 

When Marko managed to recover from his laughing fit, they finally got on the bikes to go to the cave. "Hold on, Laddie," Marko yelled over the roar of two engines revving before he took off down the stairs and over the sand, followed closely by Paul.

Laddie laughed as they flew across the sand, dust flying into innocent people who yelled insults at them as they sped past. She leaned back into the open space at the back of the bike, closing her eyes and letting her arms splay out to her sides. As she lay back into the wind, she let herself slip into remembering thousands of nights from her childhood. Tucked safely into Dwayne's back as the boys tore their way across the beach back home. Her hair flew out behind her as she leaned back up to grab hold of Marko again as Paul sped passed them, whooping loudly and egging Marko into racing him. Marko - never one to back down from a challenge - obliged him, screaming with laughter as he did. Laddie screamed right along with him. It wasn't long before they finally reached the cliff's edge that meant they were close. Marko and Paul ground the bikes to a halt, and all three dismounted.

The two boys walked towards the stairs that indicated the way down to the cave Laddie had once called home, pushing and shoving each other the same way they always had when she was a child. She just stood there and watched them, hesitation welling up inside her as she did. Marko began heading down, but Paul stopped, turning to face her with a wide grin on his face. He held out his hand for her, gesturing lightly. Laddie forced herself to take a step forward, then another, then another, until she was close enough to grab his hand, not trusting herself to panic and run back to the boardwalk. They walked down in silence, Paul still holding Laddie's hand as he listened to her heart's nervous pounding. He squeezed her hand gently, and she squeezed back. He could be emotionally aware. Sometimes.

The closer they got to the main entrance of the cave, Laddie could hear the two voices she'd missed. David's commanding drawl and Dwayne's deep and seldom heard voice rang in her head, and she squeezed Paul's hand one more time for courage before he walked up the steep incline that had felt like a mountain to her almost 10 years ago and puller her up and over it, into the main cavern. The voices stopped suddenly when she came into view. She looked around, her eyes finding Marko first, before drifting over to where Dwayne sat on the lip of the fountain with his eyes locked on her, and lastly to David, who sat - like he always did - in the broken wheelchair by the fountain, cigarette in hand, doing his best impression of being entirely unfazed by her sudden appearance. 

"That didn't take long," Dwayne said, face unchanged, but the smile evident in his voice.

Laddie shrugged, "Always good at finding people, remember?"

Her constant protector's demeanor cracked, a small smile appearing on his face, "I do."

David stood suddenly, taking one long last pull from his cigarette before dropping it on the floor and stamping it out, "Welcome home, kid."

She just looked at him, her face impassive. The cave was silent for several uncomfortable seconds as David studiously tried to pretend he wasn't avoiding eye contact with her. Then, before any of them could react, Laddie ripped her heavy little hardcover notebook out of her pocket and flung it - full force - directly at David's head.


End file.
